Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Helloooo, I'm back in NJ so my European vacation is over :( But I still want to post videos from the trip b/c they're fun.

First up are some videos from the fountain in Barcelona. Karoline and I each filmed little "Hello" videos in front of the fountain, but I couldn't upload them until now...so just pretend this is 6 days ago, please.

And here's mine:

So we're watching the fountain and it would do about 15 themed minutes of songs, then one random one about 5 minutes later, then another 15 minutes one, etc.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Hello! I'm actually writing from Dublin but wanted to post some pics from Barcelona since I didn't get a chance to while I was there. I also have more Geneva stuff to post but this computer is ridiculously slow so that might just have to wait until I get home.

Ok here I am at Park Guell, one of Gaudi's creations. I was pretty amazing, I really enjoyed walking around, but unfortunately it started downpouring while we were there so we didn't walk around as much as we might have otherwise.

Here's the inside of La Sagrada Familia; of course the majority of it was CLOSED for construction, like every other attraction on this trip, but from what I saw I thought it was truly amazing. Architecture like this boggles my mind, I don't understand how someone can conceptualize a vision like that and then make it a reality. Crazy.

Me, outside of La Sagrada Familia. I have more pics of the outside that I'll post later, but if you do a quick Google search you can see what it looks like. It's worth your time! Plus it's gigantic, you could see it from all over Barcelona and it's a really unique looking structure so you can't miss it.

Yay! Unlike the Milan stadium, the Camp Nou (New Stadium) used by FC Barcelona was actually open for tours when we went! Whee! It was pretty cool, for this pic I was a bit higher up in the seats, you were allowed to go in a bunch of different sections so this was towards the top of the stadium...oh wait actually I think this was by the press seats.And here I am down by the field! And of course, they were setting up for something on the field, a concert or something? But it was cool anyway.

I wanted to post a video I took at Font Montjuic but this computer is literally the slowest computer I've ever used. So that might have to wait until I get home...or until I have an hour to waste while waiting for it to upload!

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Well we've made it to Ireland, it's 1am and it's raining nonstop, went from 75 in Barcelona to about 50 in Dublin, time to make use of all the long sleeves and pants I packed ;) I should be able to post pictures (and hopefully some video) tomorrow!!

Thursday, June 4, 2009

People were still coming in to sit down and eat when we left at 11pm! Very interesting. Oh and I learned that apparently a tortilla here is actually an omlet. Another full day tomorrow, we might go check out the beach and the Barri Gotic area. I really want to see Parc Guell so maybe on Saturday we can do that. Also there's a bike tour we might do. K sorry about the lack of pictures, I might have to wait until Ireland to post more.

I was very sad to leave geneva and I have some more pics and video to post but the Barcelona hostel has free wireless (yay!) but nowhere to plug in my computer cord (boo!). The train from geneva was very quick, or at least felt like it; it was a solid ten hours though. We were in sort of a big train car with regular seats that are a bit wider than usual and can also recline; it was ok I actually slept quite a bit. The man sitting behind me kept sneezing (apparently the sneeze/cough into your elbow thing hasn't quite caught on in Europe yet) and another lady was hacking up who knows what. Gross. Anyway made it to our hostel with no problems and then went on a tour of the FC Barcelona soccer stadium; I thought that was cool. After that we headed to La Sagrada Familia to check that out but of course they're doing renovations so much of the inside was blocked off! We waited to go to dinner until the normal dinner time for locals, around 9pm, and no exaggeration people were still coming

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Hello from Switzerland! I have a bunch of video to upload, I didn't think pictures were enough. It is sooo unbelieveable beautiful here, I kind of want to move here. I'm sad that we're really only here for one full day and then off to Barcelona, but I know I will be back to Switzerland for another visit!!

Karoline and I went on a one-hour boat ride around the Lake Geneva...above is a picture of some of the stores along the street facing the Lake. Fancy stuff, Rolex, Mont Blanc, Harry Winston, other watch companies that are famous and I can't think of right now. As you can see the Lake is nice and blue and the sky was blue today as well! Soo windy though it was crazy. The big Jet d'eau thingy that is usually going was turned off b/c of the wind. I hope it's on tomorrow b/c it is on like every Geneva tourism thing and I really want to see it! It's a big stream of water that goes something like 150meters into the air.

BIG PUPPY!!! He was chilling at a little souvenier stand waiting for his owner. So cute. And huge. Apparently the dogs here either have to be microscopic or gigantic, no inbetween! And the people speak at least 2 different languages it's so cool. I got to use my limited French "Parlais vou Englais?" (I know that spelling isn't even close) and watch whoever I spoke to recoil in horror at my pronunciation. Whateves dude at least I'm making the effort!!!

On the lake, I love the laaaake and the mountaiiiins they're so beautiful.

Another view from by the Lake...

Mountains around the lake...and these aren't even the big ones. On the other side you can see snow on the tops of the mountains and everything.

So below is a short video of some of the sights from the train ride and another one of Geneva from the boat ride we took today...so pretty. These videos take forever and a day to post on here or I would post more...if I do this kind of trip again I'm bringing my own computer with me!! This hostel only has two computers that you can hook USB cords into and I don't want to hog it for too long...plus internet is expensive here.

So that's all for now...I might post again quickly tomorrow if we get bored waiting for the train but we'll see! Overnight train to Barcelona tomorrow night, booo. But I think Barcelona will be really cool :)

Monday, June 1, 2009

More driving in Poland. Oh, Karoline's grandfather is driving, the roads are barely big enough for one tiny European car, and there are potholes like no other road I've ever driven. BUT they're very strict about seatbelt laws, so that's nice.

I have some seriously mixed feelings about Milan. I'm really not impressed with it, I think I was expecting some fancy, glamorous city, and really it's kind of dirty and boring.

This is a fountain in front of the Castello Sforzesco. Apparently the castle was turned into barracks by the Austrians back in the 1700's so it wasn't the pretty castle I was imagining. Sigh.

The Galleria, this place is pretty and interesting to look at, I think it is the oldest shopping mall in Italy? Or something like that.

Ok the Duomo I was impressed with. I really loved the inside of this church, it is gorgeous and amazing. All the pillars, I love that.

Me outside of the Duomo, it is an impressive building though, right? I think I enjoyed that the most, and unfortunately that was the first thing we did yesterday so everything else was sort of blah after that. We saw a bunch of other churches and whatnot but I'll post those pictures on facebook when I get back, they aren't too exciting. Our hotel here is very nice, the most like a real hotel out of any place we've stayed so far. And breakfast is included in the price so that was sweeeeeeet this morning.

Milan doesn't seem very Italian to me though, but I don't really know what I was expecting. I know it's a very different city from Venice but...I dunno. Plus yesterday was Sunday so a lot of stuff was closed, and today is a holiday so a lot of stuff is closed, maybe that has something to do with it? But the train ride from Venice to Milan was verrry pretty OH and we stopped in Verona!! (Suzy you can imagine how badly I wanted to get out and walk around and recite Romeo and Juliet lines like a total geek). Apparently the train ride from Milan to Geneva is absolutely gorgeous so I'm really looking forward to that!! Ok that's all from Milan. I think we're going to try and go check out the stadium where AC Milan play and then check out the fancy shopping districts (Alex I can't make any promises about the Louis Vuitton wallet but I'll do my best!).

Hello! I'm actually writing from Milan but I need to backtrack and post pictures from Venice! Venice was truly beautiful and kind of amazing. Everything on boats! Need to get something delivered? Well it will be delivered via boat. So neat.

This was the view from our hotel room window. I wasn't overly impressed with this particular hotel, but it was right across the street from the boat station so that was convenient. After riding on the boat for a long period of time, you still feel like you're on the boat for like a solid 20 or 30 minutes afterwards. It is very bizarre. Oh also! If you can see that little like...post thing sticking up out of the middle of that circle, it was actually a water fountain! Water just constantly dripped out of it and you could just go grab a drink.

Oh and did I mention it was windy the entire time we were there? It was. Here I am in Piazza San Marco (or something...is that right, Vicky? I know it is San Marco and I think Piazza is Square...I miss the Platz' of Vienna!) and it was insanely crowded here and there were a ton of pigeons. Someone please explain to me the obsession people have with pigeons. I think they are disgusting, and yet, people were trying to get them to eat out of their hands. Ew.

This was on Murano, the island where the Italians do a lot of the glass blowing, this little structure was in one of the little piazza's, it is pretty impressive. I loved Murano, we got to see a glass blowing demonstration (which hopefully I can upload the video at some point but I'm having trouble reading Italian youtube and figuring out how it all works) and pretty much spent the entire afternoon there. It was gorgeous and definitely one of my favorite things about Venice.

This was...near C a'doro I believe. We spent a while walking around there as well, very nice little shopping district. I seriously loved how people were just like 'la la la I'm driving my boat around like it's a car' it was so fun.

Another view of Venice.

Oh this was at the top of the tower in San Marco Square Piazza. SO WINDY! But it was pretty from up there. Overall I truly enjoyed Venice, we had some delicious Italian food (and Bellinis!) and it was pretty amazing to see that part of Italy and experience the culture. Also I love gondolas. They're awesome and I love the gondola guys, some more than others though, I like the ones that go all out and are singing and wearing their striped shirts and little bolero-type jackets and the big straw hats with a ribbon tied around them. Loved it. OH and our hotel had functional shutters!!!! LOVE THAT SO MUCH! Seriously even though that hotel was kind of crappy, the shutters made it so much better.

Friday, May 29, 2009

Very quick update: train ride went well, Venice is gorgeous but our hotel doesn't have a computer for us to use. I'm stealing wireless from the lobby and will try to post pics but might not be able to for a couple days! Ok off to catch the boat to San marco!

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

So today Karoline and I arrived in Vienna!! It's very pretty and I can't wait to see more tomorrow. Originally we were going to stay in a hostel tonight, but we're staying with another one of her relatives instead! Tomorrow night is our first overnight train to Venice, eep! It's like 12 hours or something insane like that, but I know we'll be fine! Ok here are pics.

At Praha Holesevice train station about to board our train.On the train on the way to Vienna! It was a 6 person car but onlz Karoline and I were there so we got to spread out our stuff and relax. And take like 4 catnaps, which is my new favorite thing to do.

Schonbrunn Palace! I think that is how you spell it. Anyway, I'm going to live there now. It is GORGEOUS and I love castles and palaces. Sooo pretty.

HELLO PRETTY PALACE. There were a ton of gardens, fountains, and paths all over the place.

This is where I will serve afternoon tea, join me, won't you?

Karoline and I standing in one of the many lovely archways, this one was lined with roses.

More Vienna sightseeing tomorrow, then catching the 830pm to Venice! I can't remember if the place we're staying there has wireless, but if it does I'll continue to update!!

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

On the free walking tour: Prague Palace is on the other side of the river.In front of...of course I forget the name right now but it is used as a concert hall; very pretty.That's the Charles Bridge in the distance; I posted pics from there last night! We were crossing the river using a different bridge on this tour.

Apparently I don't know how to post pictures onto Blogger so that they'll appear in order but whatever! Above is a picture of me in Bielawa town square, the town where Karoline's realtives live! The owl statue is supposedly a good luck tradition for newly married couples; they walk to the owl and if he flaps his wings it means they'll have a good marriage (but he obviously cannot flap his wings so...hmm).Ok this was the spread that awaited us pretty much everywhere we went. This was at Karoline's grandfather's house. FOOD! Seriously it was insane how much food was made. This meal had fruit soup, beet soup, salad, pasta, pierogies, little croissant roll thingies...unbelieveable. And THEN there was a table just as big for dessert!

Here I am in the center of Wroclaw; Karoline and I spent a nice afternoon walking around here.Here we are just about to eat breakfast (note the soymilk next to me! Yay!). You also see cakes, tomatoes, rolls, cheese, meat, strawberries, and frankfurters.

Here I am sitting at the breakfast table. NOM!

This is Karoline's Aunt and Uncle's house! And that's Karoline's brother up on the deck. And that's her grandfather's car.

Monday, May 25, 2009

Then we headed right for old town and it was so pretty- much more of what I was hoping to see!! Went to the top of the tower to get some great views and then went to a traditional Czech restaurant for dinner. Karoline had goulosh!! And we had Czech beer- not bad. the streets here a bit confusing but we're making our way around really well!! Oh also walked across Charles Bridge and saw a german reporter filming for something. And now we're back in the hostel! Time for bed so we can get a decent start tomorrow :) and I will try my best to post pics on the computer here but it's really slow (so slow that I'm writing this on my iPod instead of use it). Night!!

Ok so I haven't been able to update because the computer was broken at karoline's relatives' house. Poland was really great and karoline's family was so welcoming and great hosts!! Lots of amazing food (as soon as I can I'll post pictures if the daily breakfast...and other pictures of course). One afternoon we went into Wroclaw and I have some good pics of that as well. So some of you wanted to know what Poland looks like: GREEN!!! Rolling hills, beautiful mountains, tons of trees. Today karoline's uncle drove us into Czech republic (Anka) came with us as well. They helped us figure out which bus to take and we only had to wait half an hour before we were on our way! The bus ride was nice and relaxing but as we got closer to Prague I was getting worried bc it seemed so westernized. It was all generic stuff and not pretty at all. We found our hostel easily (yay for the google maps!) and it's very nice! I think we're the only ones in our little section.